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I could get food. She recommended the local cafe in Goleen, Along The Way,
so I headed off to find it. I didn’t know that Kate had phoned ahead and the
owners and staff were expecting me. Kate had paid for my lunch in advance,
so I ended up receiving a lovely panini for lunch and I stocked up even more
for the remaining kms. Thank you so much, Kate and everyone at Along The
Way - this was an incredibly kind thing to do! :) :)

I left the cafe feeling great and knew that I could finish the race before the

end of the day. There was only 80kms to go, but it was hilly, with small, steep

hills, and rough roads. These conditions made this part of the race seem to

go on forever. I finally got to Kinsale without remembering the name of the

place where I was meant to get my Brevit card stamped. I asked some locals

whether they knew where I would get a stamp. They pointed me towards The

White House Pub. The pub was packed and the people at the bar looked at

me strangely and started asking questions about where I had come from

and what I had done. When I told them they, looked at me even more strangely

and told me I was crazy. (Really? Aren't they the crazy once? Sitting in a pub

not exploring their beautiful country?) I apologised for my scruffy look and

wished them all a fun night. The road from Kinsale to Blarney was up a hill,

and along a main road. It took me through the centre of Cork, passed the

university and down to Blarney. I arrived in Blarney and couldn’t find the

castle or the hotel where the finish line was located. I had been cycling for 18

hours, and couldn’t wait to finish.

Angie, another rider who

unfortunately had to scratch from

the race, came out of the hotel to

congratulate me. She let me use her

room to shower and change my

clothes. In the bathroom I noticed

how much weight I had lost over the

course of the race. I was shocked!! I

had probably lost 1 stone or 8kgs, my Finished!!! YAS!!!

cheeks were hollow, my nose was sunburnt and my lips were peeling and

incredibly swollen. I still couldn’t feel my fingers and toes. My saddle sores

were hard lumps underneath my skin.

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